Shoe stretcher



P. WARD March 30, 1937.

SHOE STRETCHER Filed Sept. 28, 1956 Patented Mar. 30, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to shoe stretchers and aims to provide a shoe stretcher of improved construction.

An important object of the invention is to pro- 5 vide a shoe stretcher which is readily adjustable to various sizes of footwear and which is simple and effective in operation.

Other objects and advantages will be clear from the following detailed description of a double-unit shoe stretcher representing a preferred embodiment of the invention, reference being had to the annexed drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a view of the shoe stretcher in side elevation showing in dotted lines a shoe mounted 15 thereon;

Figure 2 is a view in front elevation of the stretcher, certain of the parts being broken away for clearness;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional detail view of the 20 stretching mechanism on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional detail view of the stretching mechanism on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the means by which the spreader arms are pivotally mounted upon the frame; and

5 Figure 5 is a cross-sectional detail view on the line 55 of Fig. 2 of one of the pair of springpressed buttons which together serve to bias the ends of the spreader arms toward each other.

The shoe stretcher illustrated in the drawing comprises a flat base plate I adapted to be secured to a shoemakers bench and a pair of gooseneck castings 2 arranged side-by-side and extending up from the base plate, thegoosenecks being connected by a: cross-bar 3 intermediate 35 their height. The goosenecks are of identical construction and each constitutes a frame upon which is mounted the stretching mechanism whih is designed to engage the toe and heel portions of a boot or shoe.

Integrally formed upon the upper end of the gooseneck is a suspension plate 4 presenting flat outer face 4a disposed at an inclination as shown in Fig. 1. Swingingly mounted upon and supported by the suspension plate is a pair of stretcher arms 5. The spreader arms are approximately square in cross-section, and adjacent their upper ends they are formed with cylindrical, laterally projecting pivot pins 6. The pivot pins are receivable in complementary O shaped sockets located in transversely spaced relation adjacent the upper edge of the suspension plate and the spreader arms extend downwardly at an outward inclination, as shown, a substantial distance below the suspension plate. The lower end of each spreader arm is bentforwardly, away from the gooseneck, to provide a finger I designed to be received within a recess formed in a last block 8. The pair of companion last blocks supported upon the fingers I together are 60 adapted to engage opposite sides of the inside toe-end portion of a shoe, the shoe being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

For expanding the, spreader arms to stretch the uppers of the shoe the following mechanism is provided. Extending downwardly intermedi-a,

ate the spreader arms is a shaft I0 rotatably journaled in a boss ll formed integral with the suspension plate 4 adjacent its upper edge. The upper end of the shaft projects above the boss and has a hand wheel 12 fastened thereon for;

rotating the shaft, while the end of the shaft which projects below the lower edge of the boss is threaded throughout the major portion of its length and terminates above the lower ends of spreader arms. I

Mounted for rotation along the threaded shaft is a sleeve n'ut l3 having laterally projecting wings l4 overlying the spreader arms and terminating in downturned flanges l5 which bearagainst the flat face 4a of the suspension plate" 4. The wings l4 upon their inner faces opposite the flat face 4a of the suspension plate carry rollers I6 which engage the opposed faces of the spreader arms. In order to maintain the latter in engagement with the rollers, buttons Hp.

which are connected to coil compression springs l8 housed within pockets l9 formed integral with the flanges I5, press against theouter sides of the spreader arms in a manner such as to swing the arms toward each other about the? swivel connection afforded by the pivot pins 6 within their respective sockets. To provide a trackway for the cylindrical nut I3 the face 4a of the suspension plate 4 is formed with an arouate shaped depression 20 designed to accommo-,

date the barrel portion of the cylindrical nut which slides upon the suspension plate when the handwheel I2 is' turned.

About midway along the gooseneck casting is located the gripping mechanism for the heel portion of the shoe. This mechanism comprises a threaded shaft 38 extending at a downward inclination through a hollow boss 3| formed upon the gooseneck. The shaft has affixed thereon at its extended upper end a hand-' engage the inner heel portion of a shoe without slipping. The eye 35 is sufliciently oversize to loosely receive the bar 34 and enable the gripper to be initially engaged with the heel orcounter portion of a shoe, the arrangement being such that when tension is exerted upon the pull bar 34 the corners of the eye snub against the flat upper and lower sides of the bar and prevent the gripper from slipping. In order to additionally guard against such slippage, a setscrew 37 is threaded through the wall of the eye and is adapted to be tightened into engagement with indents 38 formed at spaced intervals along the upper surface of the pull bar.

The operation of the device described above is as follows. The shoe to be stretched is inserted over the pair of last blocks 8 carried by the fingers I on the lower ends of the spreader arms 5, it being understood that the arms initially will be closed together to facilitate this operation. lhe gripper plate 36 will next be inserted into the heel end of the shoe and moved along the rod 34 until it engages the heel end or counter portion of the shoe.

The hand wheel I2 is turned to rotate threaded shaft ill to move the cylindrical nut l3 downwardly along the shaft which causes the rollers is to bear against and expand the spreader arms 5 against the action of the spring pressed buttons H and force the last blocks outwardly against the inside of the shoe. The handwheel 32 is then operated to rotate threaded shaft which moves the sleeve nut 33 along the shaft 30 into the hollow boss 3|, and, through the pull bar 34, draws the serrated surface 36a of gripper 38 firmly into engagement with the heel end of the shoe and stretches the toe portion of the shoe tightly over the last blocks. The set screw 31 is then tightened into engagement with the pull bar. The extent of operation of the spreader arms 5 and pull bar 34 will be governed by the amount of stretch to be imparted to the shoe in a transverse and lengthwise direction and, as

40 will be apparent, these mechanisms are independently manipulable.

When the shoe is to be released it is only necessary to rotate the hand wheel l2 to collapse the last blocks within the shoe and to turn the hand wheel 32 so as to relieve tension upon the pull bar. The pull bar may then be swung upwardly to withdraw the gripp'er'plate from the shoe and to allow the latter to be slipped off of the last blocks.

While I have shown two stretching units mounted in parallel which probably will be found most convenient for the majority of small shoe repair shops, it will be apparent that the shoe stretcher described herein may comprise only a single unit or any other suitable number of these units regardless of their relative arrangement.

It will be manifest that various changes in the arrangement and design of the shoe stretcher described above may be mad-e without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A shoe stretcher comprising a vertical frame, a suspension plate rigidly supported on said frame, a pair of spreader arms pivotally mounted adjacent their upper ends upon the suspension plate and overlying and projecting downwardly below the suspension plate, said spreader arms terminating in forwardly directed fingers, last blocks detachably mounted upon the fingers and adapted to engage the interior of a shoe, a threaded shaft rotatably mounted upon the suspension plate intermediate the spreader arms, a nut overlying and bearing upon the suspension plate, said nut adapted to travel along the threaded shaft upon rotation of'the latter, and means upon the the pull bar.

nut adapted to engage and expand the spreader arms upon rotation of the threaded shaft.

2. A shoe stretcher comprising a suspension plate, a pair of spreader arms pivotally mounted adjacent their upper ends uponthesuspension plate and projecting downwardly below the suspension plate, last blocks upon the lower ends of the spreader arms designed to engage the interior of a shoe, a threaded shaft rotatably mounted upon the suspension plate intermediate the spreader arms, a nut adapted to travel along the threaded shaft upon rotation of the latter, and rollers upon the nut adapted to engage and expand the spreader arms upon rotation of the threaded shaft.

3. A shoe stretcher comprising a suspension plate, a pair of spreader arms pivotally mounted adjacent their upper ends upon the suspension plate and projecting downwardly below the suspension plate, last blocks upon the lower ends of the spreader arms designed to engage the interior of a shoe, a threaded shaft rotatably mounted upon the suspension plate intermediate the spreader arms, a nut adapted to travel along the threaded shaft upon rotation of the latter, projections upon the nut adapted to engage and expand the spreader arms upon rotation of the threaded shaft, and resilient means upon the nut bearing against the spreader arms and biasing the spreader armsinto engagement with the projections.

4. A shoe stretcher comprising a base, a gooseneck extending upwardly from the base, a suspension plate mounted upon the upper end of the gooseneck, a pair of spreader arms pivotally mounted adjacent their upper ends upon the suspension plate and projecting downwardly below the suspension plate, last blocks upon the lower ends of the spreader arms designed to engage the interior toe portion'of a shoe, a threaded shaft rotatably mounted upon the suspension plate intermediate the spreader arms, a nut adapted to -travel along the threaded shaft upon rotation of the latter, projections upon the nut adapted to engage and expand the spreader arms, a longitugooseneck and threaded into the sleeve nut for sliding the sleeve within the recess, means securing the pull bar to the end of the sleeve and a gripper plate supported upon the pull bar adapted to extend within and engage the heel-end portion of the shoe.

6. Apshoe stretcher as recited by claim 4 in i which the means for displacing the pull bar comprises a sleeve nut slidable within a recess in the gooseneck, a threaded shaft supported upon the gooseneck and threaded into the sleeve nut for sliding the sleeve within the recess, means pivotally mounting the pull bar to an end of the sleeve nut anda gripper plate adapted to extend within and engage the heel-end portion of the shoe, said gripper plate having an eye designed to loosely receive and to effect snubbing engagement with PAUL WARD. 

